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Journal of Virology, March 2001, p. 2059-2066, Vol. 75, No. 5
Division of Transplantation Medicine, Mayo
Clinic Scottsdale, Scottsdale, Arizona 852591;
Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, University of
Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
152132; Institute of Infectious
Diseases, Medical Academy, Warsaw, Poland3; and
Transfusion Viruses Studies, University of Southern
California, Los Angeles, California 900894
Received 14 July 2000/Accepted 22 November 2000
We have analyzed three cases of hepatitis C virus (HCV)-infected
recipients who received blood from HCV-infected donors. Two recipients
were exposed to two different HCV RNA-positive donors, and one was
exposed to a single donor. All parental genomes from the actual
infecting units of blood and the recipients were defined, and their
presence in the follow-up serum samples was determined using sensitive
strain-specific assays. The strain from one of the donors was found to
predominate in all recipients' serum samples collected throughout the
follow-up period of 10 to 30 months. In two recipients exposed to two
infected donors, the strain from the second donor was occasionally
found at very low level. However, the original recipients' strains
were not detected. Our observations show that HCV-infected individuals
can be superinfected with different strains, and this event may lead to
eradication or suppression of the original infecting strain.
Furthermore, our findings demonstrate that simultaneous exposure to
multiple HCV strains may result in concomitant infection by more than
one strain, although a single strain could rapidly establish its
dominance. The results of the present study suggest the existence of
competition among infecting HCV strains which determines the ultimate
outcome of multiple HCV exposure.
0022-538X/01/$04.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/JVI.75.5.2059-2066.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Exposure of Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) RNA-Positive
Recipients to HCV RNA-Positive Blood Donors Results in Rapid
Predominance of a Single Donor Strain and Exclusion and/or
Suppression of the Recipient Strain
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: SC Johnson Bldg.
Sj-3, Mayo Clinic Scottsdale, 13400 East Shea Blvd., Scottsdale, AZ 85259. Phone: (480) 301-6370. Fax: (480) 301-3384. E-mail:
laskus.tomasz{at}mayo.edu.
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